I am picking back up Star League Assassins (SLA), which is the third series set in the Milky Way Universe. The first ten-book series is Pirates of the Milky Way, followed by Agents of the Planetary Republic. I got five books into SLA and ended up distracted, first by Kindle Vella and then by a great idea for a steampunk series. Alas, about two years have passed since I wrote in the paused SLA saga.
One of the things I learned about picking up a series after a pause came from Isaac Asimov. After decades of encouragement led him to add another entry to the Foundation storyline, he said the first thing he did was sit down and read the old books. So, that is what I’ve done with SLA. Along the way I decided to do something I’ve always wanted to do with the Milky Way Universe, and set up an encyclopedia tracking all the people, technologies, spaceships, planets and everything else in the series.
I know what you’re thinking. This is the stuff wikis are made of, to turn a Shakespearean phrase. But taking a look at the tools I had available, Microsoft OneNote fits the bill nicely.
Creating a OneNote notebook for SLA involves first devising a method of organization for easy reference later. I started with six sections including planets, ships, people, technology, businesses and historical events.
Within each section, I added pages based on alignments. So, for planets, I have Republic, League, Lutian Alliance and Neutral. I can drill down with continents, cities, streets, neighborhoods and geographical features. Same with ships, although I also have a page outlining the many different classes of spaceships in the series for easy reference.
Technology is similar, but I also have subpages for Agency of Justice technology under the Republic’s page and another one for State Security and Intelligence on the League’s side. Both those organizations use specialized spy equipment often unavailable elsewhere and I thought that warranted its own set of entries.
Likewise, for businesses I thought it prudent to separate out banks in both systems. Banks often get robbed in the books, and characters from one system or the other often need them for financial transactions. I wanted to easily tap information for a bank in any given situation, on any given planet.
All of this is of course designed to help me quickly locate information instead of doing searches through Word documents when writing new chapters. I can easily look up a person, place or thing in the encyclopedia and be refreshed in memory how they look, where they are, and so forth.
For Pirates, this wasn’t necessarily a problem, nor for Agents. But now that I’m picking up SLA again after this long hiatus, and a million words later, it’s needed. OneNote so far is proving quite useful in this regard.
Happy Thanksgiving to American readers. I am very grateful to all of you, wherever you are, America or otherwise.
Today the final book in Steam & Aether debuts, Kaiser’s War. To celebrate, all the books in that series are either free or under a buck in the usual markets, through limited time Kindle Countdown deals. Click over to the series page for all the choices and to pick up any you may have missed.
Next up, be on the lookout for SLA 6. I’m about 10,000 words in, and hope to have it out soon.
(Image courtesy Microsoft Designer via Bing)
The Encyclopaedia sounds like a great idea, Jaxon! A wonderful and helpful tool for you. I always wondered how authors writing long series remember all the characters’, planets, spaceships’ etc, names, , the timelines,...Do you also have a graphic to know how they are related to what, Jaxon? I can envision a diagram on the wall in front of your office table! Lol
I thank you for all the fantastic series you have written, Jaxon. The wonderful stories that have added a grain of joy to my life, contributed to my happiness. Thank you. Stay blessed.
Loving hugs.
Love and Light,
Meenaz. 🧡🌟
P.S.
I’m very behind with your books though, Jaxon. My health has deteriorated, with the spinal cord condition worsened, mental health issues..what with the pains increase, the strong meds (they make me drowsy, fuzzy, sleepy), taking care of my parents-82 and 91 years old each-of it my reading has lessened significantly, from 25/28 per month to 3/4 per month, and sadly, not even accepting ARCs now. I’m due for another surgery next year, on another area of my spine. All The intervertebral discs are degenerating.
I am sorry for not being up to date, Jaxon. I wish I could read like before. 😔 I hope you understand and will forgive my lateness. Thank you, Jaxon. For everything.